A Different Way To Hunt
by Skyfire Dragono
Summary: Solomon sends in another team to help keep the STNJ’s area clear as a new Factory is built, and they discover a whole new method of hunting. Paused writing to work on another story: Twist Of Fate
1. Introduction To Story

**Introduction**

* * *

_Disclamer_: I do not own Witch Hunter Robin, nor anything of the sort. Wish I did, but life doesn't work that way.

Hey all! Sorry it's taken me so long! I've had a lot of extra work to do, and no time to do it. Sorry about all that. Working on a company logo as we speak. Not a lot of time to do anything else but sleep, and even then sometimes don't get a lot of it.

For those who are new to reading the story, this is my version of what a different form of hunting is, instead of running down witches and shooting them. And how the two different hunting styles fit together, and where they clash. And yes, they do clash. Everything in life does.

So I hope you enjoy it! Everything I want to say about the chapters should be here; freeing up space at the end of each chapter so you don't get just a lot of hollow word.

Enjoy!


	2. Organizing

**Chapter 1**

**Organizing**

* * *

Michael typed happily on the computer in front of him, with the normal rock music blaring form his headphones. He was relieved to see that everyone was alright. Robin had surprised them all when a month after factory collapsed, she showed up as her own replacement to the team. Karasuma had been heading for the front door when the doorbell rang, and opened it to find Robin standing there, with a small smile on her face.

What had ensued afterwards was almost mayhem as everyone rushed over at Karasuma's excited shout, and proceeded to mug Robin with hardy pats on the back, hugs (which Dojima delightedly gave Robin because she was so happy to see her), and questions about where she'd been and what had happened the whole time she was missing. And, to add to the already befuddled situation of Robins return, Amon showed up three days later; just walking into the door as though he was never missing.

That added a whole new layer of confusion to the situation as the replacement hunter for him thought he was a witch breaking in, and proceeded to shoot at him. Luckily, Amon knew of the replacement, and only managed to boll him over as the team came in to see what was going on. They quickly straightened out the replacement on who and what Amon was, and they welcomed Amon back with nods. Now, the whole team was assembled again, and everything seemed to be returning back to normal, except for one thing; no more capturing witches alive.

Michael stopped typing for a moment as he thought about that. They had already been on four hunts in the past week, and there were no orbo bullets to subdue the witches. The STN-J hunters had to use now special hunting bullets to take out the targets, and those bullets were meant to kill. One of those witches had been a young girl about the age of eight, and the atmosphere of Raven's Flat had been sullen after they had had to kill her. Now though, with their two best hunters back, the atmosphere was much lighter, and most of the members seemed to have relaxed and settled back into their normal hunting routine. As Michael was lost in his thoughts, a small window flashed up on the computer screen before him.

Blinking in surprise, he turned to it, and found that the screen read 'New Mail'. Quickly typing, he discovered that it was a message from Solomon headquarters. He quickly picked up the phone and dialed a number, he got Karasuma quickly on the other end.

"What is it Michael?" she asked with a bit of confusion. She was just downstairs from him, sitting at Harry's with Robin and the other STN-J members (excluding Amon and Sakaki, who were instead sitting at the bar), and filling Robin in on what happened since she was gone.

"We have a message from Solomon I thought you all might want to take a look at."

Five minutes later, the team was assembled in the briefing room. Michael sat at his customary spot in front of the computer terminal. Though he had been released, he decided he would stay and help out the team that he had grown close to, and still hung out in the building he had called his home for so long.

"What's this about?" asked Karasuma, as she folded her hands before her. "Why would Solomon be sending us a message?" Michael brought the message up on the screens I front of the hunters.

"They say that they are aware of the witches coming out of hiding because of Factory's fall. They are going to be building a new Factory over here, to the true purpose of what we thought we were originally doing. They're testing a product now that stuns witches like orbo did, so that they can be stored in Factory. In the time that they are rebuilding, they are sending two STN teams over. One is from a branch of STN-C which is going to supervise the construction site 24-7, while the other team is coming over to help assist us in hunting the witches down so that we aren't overloaded with work."

"There's no point," commented Amon, who was leaning against the doorframe. "We can handle it without another team barging in here."

"From what I've been able to find on them, that isn't locked away in high security that I can't break," replied Michael, pressing a few more keys and bringing up another document onto the screens. "they are quite skilled at their hunting, and have assisted teams all over the world. They only do what they need to do, and have a high rate of not getting involved with the normal teams work. They also stay only as long as needed, and then head back to their headquarters. All in all a quite effective helping team."

"How many are in it?" asked Sakaki, glancing at the repot on the screen.

"Five, possibly six, and that's not including their own hacker and the three rookies that have been assigned to them. I'm sure though that they won't bring the rookies along on this particular mission. Past that though, the information is sealed away. The high security protects everything, including the teams name and location. Either way, we're going to be flying blind with them."

"When are they expected to arrive?" asked Karasuma. They all looked expectantly at Michael, who sighed.

"The message said that in two days, we should meet someone named Sky at the airport. I guess that's the team member they're sending out to check out our situation."

"They're not giving us much time to prepare, are they?" stated Robin to no one in particular. Karasuma nodded in agreement though.

"Well, we best get to it," commented Karasuma as she rose from the chair. "We might as well get something done before they get here. It won't do us any harm anyway."


	3. Arrival

**Chapter 2**

**Arrival**

* * *

Sky drummed her fingers on the laptop sitting before her as she looked out the window. She'd already been in the air twelve hours, and was quite ready to land in Japan. For some reason, Jeremiah had decided that she was the best person to send over first to scope out the situation. After asking for another cup of Ginger Ale from the flight attendant passing by, she thought back to yesterday morning.

__

_**(Flashback)**_

"Good morning team," Jeremiah said in a cheery voice as he entered the briefing room of Hunters Den, wearing his normal black trench, dark-green shirt, black pants, and boots. His dark-brown hair was pulled back into a short three-inch ponytail at the nape of his neck to keep it out of his eyes while he was hunting. Those sitting at the long table turned to look at each other. When Jeremiah started the briefing like that, someone was going to probably be flying out of the states. Jeremiah pretended not to notice the reaction of his team as he set the papers down that he had carried in, and signaled to Derrick in the corner. Derrick put a report up on the screen.

"Now, as you all know, the Japanese Factory was destroyed..."

'Yep,' thought Sky to herself, and she knew her teammates where thinking the same thing by the expressions on their faces. 'One of us is going out.'

"...which has caused the witches over there to feel as if they have nothing to fear from the hunters of STN-J for some reason. Though we cannot understand why, this is not the objective.

"But wasn't STN-23 supposed to help out STN-J?" asked Erin Silverwing, with silver hair and wearing a silver trench and black shirt, perched to the left of Sky. She was glancing at the report before her.

"Yes, they were, but an emergency situation arose in Russia, and they have been sent to deal with that because it is in their unique field of expertise. Since we are currently between assignments though, we have been called over to take care of the situation. Solomon will be rebuilding the Factory, so if the STN-J doesn't need us, we can always play guards to the workers rebuilding. It's just a support mission, so this should be close to a holiday for us."

"But sir, we've only been to Japan once before. The layouts bound to have changed," commented Jenny, a raven-haired girl of about 17, sitting across from Silverwing. Some of the other team members nodded in agreement.

"And three of our members have never been there before," commented Sky, looking towards Jenny and the two other rookies sitting at the far end of the table.

"I went to Japan with the team last year," replied Jenny in her own defense, flushing a bit at the thought that Sky still might consider her a 'Rookie'.

"You stayed in the hotel, and we were only passing through," countered Sky as she looked over her glasses to the raven-haired girl before her. "That hardly counts." Jenny lowered her head and mumbled something, but was quiet afterwards.

"And isn't one of the STN-C branches coming to guard the workers?" asked Demitre from the corner where he leaned, deciding to change the subject and get the briefing rolling again. A dark golden lock cascaded over one blue eye, and the rest was still pulled back in a short ponytail from his recent training exercises in the gym.

"That's why I'm sending one of you ahead so that you can check out the area," Jeremiah replied, glancing at Jenny and Sky, then turning his gaze back to Demitre. "And yes, there is a STN-C branch coming to guard the construction workers, but you can never be too cautious." His gaze then shifted directly to Sky, the young honey-blonde to his right, and she had this funny feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had already been assigned. Sky met his green eyes straight on, and raised a quizzical eyebrow at him.

"Me sir?" she asked, knowing very well that there was no way to persuade him to chose anyone else, but she was going to try.

"You have the least threatening personality, and you are the least hostile of the team if you want me to put it bluntly. I've heard that that team has some domineering personalities in them, and they won't like us to throw another into the mix. Not to mention, you need to scope out the area for the hunts anyway, so this will be your big chance to get a look around the town ahead of time. Also, the information you gather will help assist the STN-C branch with ambush points around the construction site. You are the only one with good enough eyes and strategic mind to be able to pinpoint such problem areas in such a short time, and map them down appropriately."

"But what about school?"

"We will have to tell your professors that you are getting a chance to have an expanded knowledge base, and your employer has sent you out to take advantage of it. You should be back before the summer ends."

Sky sighed and sank back in the chair while Silverwing gave her a look that portrayed all the pity she felt for the girl in her silver eyes, but didn't say a thing.

"I know, I know Sky," Jeremiah commented with a smile quirking the ends of his mouth. "I finally get permission for you to get into school, and NOW is when the work begins."

_**(End Flashback)**_

"I didn't even get a choice," she mumbled to herself as she sighed and turned back to the document she was working on. It was the road layout of Japan. "I guess I was the only choice. If Erin or Demitre had been assigned, it would take them a month at least to explore all these areas." Hooking a device with an eyepiece over her left ear, she started going through the virtual map of Japan again, and located another possible trouble spot, which showed itself as a circled area on the road map.

After studying the map and all the little circles she had created upon its surface, she sighed and took the apparatus from her ear, and saved the map. Then she brought up the document with all of the witches that Solomon knew of that were converging on the STN-J area. There were many on that list. Too many. And too many potent craft-users as well.

'Great,' she thought, sighting on one of the names, and his ranking and craft. 'I get to run around the streets of Japan trying to map it out, while powerful craft users are running amuck.' Sighing, she closed the document and then locked her computer. After she was sure that no one but her could get into her documents, she slipped the laptop into the seat pocket before her, and unbuckled her seatbelt. Her legs were asleep again, and she was tired of sitting down. It was time for another stroll down the plane.


	4. Introductions

**Chapter 3**

**Introductions**

* * *

Sky threw her luggage onto the chair beside her, and then collapsed onto the bed. She had met two of the STN-J members at the airport, and they had taken her straight to the hotel. She couldn't remember their names at the moment though. She was having too much fun relaxing in something other than an airport terminal or an aircraft seat.

'Either they want to hide something from me,' she thought to herself as she lay there. 'or I look like hell.' A few moments later, someone knocked on the door. Room Service. Groaning quietly because she had to move again, Sky picked herself up off the bed and went over to the door. The lady standing there smiled, and pushed a cart into the room.

"Friends downstairs ordered you before left," the woman remarked in heavily accented English. Sky let the words seep into her weary brain, and then understood what it was the woman was saying.

'Well, I might as well make this easy on her,' she thought, trying to bring her knowledge of the Japanese language to the front of her mind. When she finally had what she was looking for, she gave a small bow, and replied in Japanese.

"Many thanks for bringing it up here." The woman bowed back, placed the dishes on the table, and left. As Sky went to go clean up for the meal, she looked up into the mirror.

'Second guess,' she thought, examining her reflection. 'I look like hell.'

The same two who had picked her up at the airport were going to come and picked her up again from the hotel in the morning. They were courteous enough to have waited to call until about noon and tell her they were coming to pick her up. Though the hotel was only a short walk from the train station, she figured they wanted to show her their headquarters the right way by driving her there the first time. After that, she was probably going to be on her own.

Sky stopped for a moment as she put on her shirt, and looked towards her bags. 'I wonder,' she thought as she went over to her carry-on, and pulled out her wallet. Flipping it open, she pulled out her drivers license, and flipped it over. On the back were several government seals for different countries, and she spotted the one for Japan. Reading the small numbers underneath, she realized that it didn't expire for another four years.

'Hmm. That's good to know.' She put her license back in her wallet, and tucked it into her front pocket. 'I can actually drive around a bit if I can find a car to rent that isn't going to kill my budget.' Glancing at her watch, she grabbed her leather coat from the chairback, and headed downstairs.

She had to admit that it was a pretty impressive sight as they pulled up before the five-story building. Though, she also had to admit when she fist saw it that it reminded her of a pot with the lid on. The building was round in shape except that at the four side of the circle (north, south, east, and west) there was a square protruding from the top to bottom floors, which reminded her of handles on a pot. The roof was also rounded, which reminded her of a lid.

'Apparently a little hungry?' she thought to herself with a bit of humor. She then looked at the building closer. There was an odd design above the main door, which looked like half a gloge, with three pant leaves shooting out of the top, but that was in her own opinion. Either that, or it looked like the top half of a pineapple.

'Shut up you!' she mentally admonished her stomach. 'I'm working now thanks. I don't need you ruining it.' There was a huge clock at the top of the building that was situated right above the door; there were several nice-sized windows (which she liked); and a nine-foot rod-iron fence surrounding the perimeter.

'Damn the fences for always ruining the view,' she grumbled to herself. 'I know they keep people out that we don't want in, but they always detract from nice buildings.' She then thought back to the STN building in Russia, and shuddered. The building was an old church, and was practically fenced in a cage to protect it. Some witches had gotten it into their heads a few years back to attack it head-on, and the damage was still visible from what she had heard last. Several of the spires were missing, and the STN was having a hard time trying to repair it so that it looked natural, and that rain didn't leak in.

'In a way, I feel sorry that we got pulled into Japan, but then again, I have to feel more sorry for the STN-I branch for having to go to that building. Knowing circumstances though, as soon as we're done here, we'll be heading back over after this.' Just then, the short-haired brunett that had been driving the car stepped out and looked at Sky with a smile.

"So what do you think of our humble abode?" Sky smiled back.

"Humble my foot! You should see the STN building in Rhode Island! One story, and about the size of a moderate sized house! They couldn't make anymore room than that for it." She winked at Karasuma, who widened her grin. 'Though the training center in New York could put this one in the central dome with room to spare,' she thought, mentally sizing it up. 'A couple times over.'

"Well, we like it," Karasuma replied as she looked back towards the building. "But that isn't getting you introduced to our team any faster now is it? Come on in." The other girl then came out of the car, and turned and smiled at her. Her light blonde hair cascaded down to her shoulders, and she had in her hand a cell phone with little stuffed animal key chains and other cute stuff attached to it.

'Not what I'd expect to see on a hunter,' Sky thought, watching a little fuzzy bear bouncing around the phone as the blonde closed the door. Sky smiled back, and turned to follow Karasuma into the building. 'I guess it's smart though. Both sides of the hunting team. A serious hunter and a ditz who has probably never really hunted before and comes in late and leaves early. It's what I would have suggested to Jeremiah to do if we'd had a team thrown right at us, and we didn't have any time to prepare.' As she walked through the gate though, she heard Doujima talking on the phone behind her.

"Yes, she's here. We're bringing her up now."

As Karasuma entered the door, she waved off the guard.

"She's with us," was all she told him, and he let Sky pass with only a curious glance. They led her to the elevator, and then pushed the key for the fourth floor. Sky stood between the two, and watched the floors pass by via the open front on the elevator. As they got to the fourth floor though, there was a group of people standing there by the elevator. The first person she noticed though, was not the balding man with a small mustache and blue suit grinning broadly at her, but the man against the wall, wearing all black, with raven hair and pale skin.

'A night hunter,' Sky thought as she examined him quickly while the elevator gates were still closed. As they opened though, she turned her attention to the man bowing a greeting at her, and she returned the greeting as best she could.

"My name is Kosaka Shintarou. I'm the Administrator of the STN-J."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Administrator Kosaka. My name is Sky Avalon, but I am mostly known as Sky."

"Alright Miss Sky, I'll introduce you to the team." He indicated the two right beside her. "I'm sure you've already met Karasuma Miho and Doujima Yurika, as they are the two that brought you here. The man beside me," he said, indicating the man with dark hair and a crew-cut. "is Hattori Shouhei. He is my Personal Assistant for around the office. The young man over there (in which he indicated a dark-brown haired boy with longish hair), is Sakaki Haruto. He's still fairly new to the team, but knows his way around. The young lady over to my right (in which he pointed to the girl with faintly strawberry-blonde hair, a dark red trench and black dress) is Robin Sena. She's on of the newest members of the team, but has fit in quite well and knows her way around as well. The one at the computer ( in which the light-brown-blonde boy raised his hand in a gesture that plainly said 'yo') is Michael Lee. He's the hacker we use to locate witches, and the last is Amon (in which the dark-haired man inclined his head to her, and she inclined hers back), and he's the one against the wall wearing the black."

"I'm pleased to meet you all."

"I just have a quick question to ask if you don't mind," Michael asked from by the computer, in which a couple team members turned to him. "Where are you from?"

"The original team that was to be sent here was from Ireland," explained Sky as they turned back to her.

"You're not the original team to be sent?" asked Karasuma from beside her. Sky shook her head.

"No. They were called out on an emergency to Russia because the circumstances were in their field of expertise. We were between assignments, so we were sent here instead to assist. And since you asked, I'll tell you that the team is from America."

"An American team?" asked Amon with a sound much like disgust. Sky glanced at him for a moment, then looked back by Michael.

"There are those who would say the same thing about Japanese teams," she retorted softly, glancing at him again, and then facing Michael again. "All in all though, we're pretty fluent in several languages because of the travel. The rest of the team does speak fluent Japanese, except of course for the two rookies we just received, but hopefully they will not need to be called in, so that won't be a problem."

"If you don't mind," started Kosaka. "We would be willing to house your team here at Raven's Flat. We have room, and I'm sure you would be more comfortable here then at the hotel." Sky gave him a small smile, and nodded.

"That would be nice, thank you. Mercy knows, we've spent enough time in hotels enough already."


	5. Prowler

**Chapter 4**

**Prowler**

* * *

Sky glanced at the various locations she had marked on the map on the flight to Japan. Running them through the database, the addresses or street locations were identified, and put onto a separate document so that she could find them later when she went out to investigate. Right now though, she was just busy with locating them all. Michael Lee, the hacker for the STN-J, sat behind her at his customary computer in the work station, and she was pretty sure he glanced over his shoulder from time to time to see what she was really working on. That was fine with her though. She did the same.

She had been here a week so far, and had found a cold welcome from the hunter called Amon, and a moderate one from the rest of the team. She was pretty sure, like with all cases, they resented her being there, for she represented that they had a weakness, but most of them were being pretty good-natured about it. She had been getting along pretty well with Karasuma and Robin, who seemed to be the most willing to have her there. The post-rookie Sakaki avoided her at all cost, usually saying he had 'something to do' and grabbing his keys, while Dojima usually came in late, and about the time Sky was usually calling it a day, so she didn't see much of her. The newest member of the team though, Sakura, was so busy helping Hattori with Kosaka, that she was rarely even seen out of his office.

Continuing to make sure that she had gotten all the areas she had highlighted, Sky printed out a copy of the map and locations, saved the file to a disk, and got up.

"Where are you going?" asked Michael as he removed his headphones to turn around and face her.

"Out. I have some locations to scout for potential threats to the construction team that's building the new factory." She waved the printout at him to verify her statement. He nodded.

"Just be careful out there. There are some pretty tough witches running around. We wouldn't be able to explain to your team if anything happened to you." She inclined her head back to him, and had just turned around, when Karasuma and Amon walked into the room.

"I'll take you," volunteered Karasuma with a nod. "I think I would know the city pretty well by now." She also gave Sky a wink, in which Sky gave a small smile back.

"Thank you. That would be greatly apprecia..."

"I'll take her."

Amon's cool voice broke over everyone in the room, and Michael and Karasuma turned to face him.

"You still have a report to finish up for the hunt we just came back from Karasuma," he explained in the same cool voice; never taking his eyes off Sky. "I can fill in my section later. You're exhausted. I'll take her out."

Karasuma looked puzzled at Amon's request, but shrugged and turned back to face Sky.

"I guess he's going to be taking you then."

"Thank you Amon," Sky said softly, giving him a small courtesy bow. Amon, though, turned on his heals and strode to the elevator. Sky didn't rush to follow him though. She kept her own pace as she entered into the elevator beside him, and the door closed.

_An Hour Later_

Looking around the darkened alley, Sky turned to face the construction site visibly stationed at the mouth of the alley. As she had thought, this was a perfect attack point for a witch, with an easy escape as well. They could easily hide in the shadows, and bombard it. Amon stood leaning against the car, watching the American hunter work. He still remembered what she had said earlier about them not being the original team intended to be here, and he didn't like it. There were too many things that could go wrong. When the girl looked as though she was interested in a location in the alley, he strode in to see what she was up to.

"What is it?" he asked, stepping in behind her. Sky looked up from where she was crouched on the ground, and nodded towards the charred spot before her on the ground.

"Someone's already been scooping out this area. This is residue left from a craft fire, and the ash around it is human. It reeks of burnt flesh when you get too close to it. Apparently someone has already gotten too close to their plans, or was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Despite himself, Amon knelt down beside her to pick up some of the soot. It was the finest stuff he'd ever come across.

"Are you sure the witches are already planning ahead?" He rubbed the soot between his fingers. Sky turned back to look at the construction site.

"I might just have to call them in early," she mumbled to herself, glancing from the soot on her fingers, then back up to the construction site. As she looked up once again though, she quickly withdrew her gun. Amon stood as well, flipping his own gun out, to see a witch clothed in black standing between them and the alley exit.

"Stupid hunters," the witch told them in a gravely voice. "Can't keep your noses out of business that isn't yours." The alley entrance then burst into flames, and he stepped through the living wall. "Can't just stay put so we can kill you all at once." His green eyes blazed with hatred as he stepped slowly forward. Amon shot at him, but remarkably, it missed. The second shot was seared away.

"Markus Randale," Sky whispered to Amon, lowering her gun just a trifle. "Very powerful fire user. Supposed to be the next one on your list to hunt. Appears he found us first though." Amon stole a glace at her for just a moment, but turned back towards the advancing witch.

"We apparently can't shoot him. Have anything else planned?" he asked Sky, flicking a questioning gaze at her. It was time to see what these American hunters were capable of.

"Yeah. We put him out." Before he could question her, Sky pointed her gun up at a pipe running up the outside of the nearest building, and shot. Water sprayed from the hole in the pipe, causing a heavy and wet mist to surround them. There was so much that the witches craft could not contain it, and the fires started to dwindle.

Without waiting, Amon leveled his gun, and shot once more. The witch tried to block it, but the deluge weakened his craft considerably, and the bullet penetrated his chest, and the witch fell. Before long, a crimson stain appeared blow the witch, and Sky knew that Markus Randale would never be among the living again. Holstering her gun, she walked over to confirm her guess, then turned back towards the hunter.

Amon himself smoothly holstered his own gun, then walked towards her. However, before they could exchange any words, Sky's cell-phone rang. She immediately reached down for it where she had hidden it on her waist, and gave the caller I.D. a startled glance.

"My team," she told Amon, as she opened it up. "Hello?"

"Sky?" The voice on the other side belonged to Silverwing.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"We need some advice." Sky cocked her eyebrow at the phone, and dreaded asking the next question.

"What happened?"

"Jenny just did something stupid."


	6. Who Is She Really?

**Chapter 5 **

**Who is she Really?**

* * *

Those words caught her off guard.

"Could you please repeat that?" Amon raised a questioning eyebrow at her, but she ignored him, and listened intently for Silverwing to answer.

"Jenny just did something really stupid."

The words finally clicked in her mind.

"What happened?" There was a slight pause on the other end.

"Well, normally I wouldn't bother you for such a ting, except I know Jenny is under your charge for training, and this will most assuredly show up in a report."

"Spill Erin. What in the world did she do?" There was another nervous pause from the other side of the phone.

"Worst case scenario? Well, for one, she just killed an important business man."

"WHAT!?" Now Amon looked fully at her in his own way of surprise, but she still ignored him. Sky heard a couple of colorful words, and some groans from Erin, but at the moment she didn't care.

"Erin, what the hell happened?"

"We were getting ready to come over to visit you in Japan at the end of a small side-mission we were on, when Jenny got a hunch about a witch. Turns out, she was wrong, but she left before could stop her, so we went after her. It's a damn good thing she doesn't have a good aim. Bill Gates is still in critical condition though."

"Bill Gates? The some one that owns Microsoft©?"

"Yep. The very same one."

"Oh gods!" Sky placed a hand upon her brow. She felt a massive headache starting, but she couldn't succumb to it yet. "And the events leading up to this?"

"Well, the first thing is that Jenny had a hunch. She followed through with it; heading out on her own because her 'keeper' wasn't here. She managed to get past security, probably using her craft, and got a clean shot off at him. That was about the time we called her back; just realizing she was gone. She slipped back out, and we heard about it on the news that Gates was shot. That's about the gist of it."

"And the second?" Dread colored her voice.

"Well, Jenny decided to get onto the wrong side of a coven by getting into a shouting match with the coven leader, so we had to take out the whole group just to save her hide. Jeremiah is afraid that if he sees her, she's not going to be alive much longer, so we're bringing everyone over. One, so you can deal with her, and two because we can't find a place to stash the rookies until we come back, since we don't know When we're coming back."

"Oh gods Silverwing," Sky moaned, rubbing her forehead. "Alright. Give me a couple of minutes to get back to Raven's Flat, and then I'll help you with your situation."

"You're not there now?" Confusion colored the hunters voice.

"I'm out assessing ambush points. No, I'm not in the Flat. Just sit your butts down and wait 'till I call you. I'll do what Jeremiah can't. Since I'm her keeper, I'LL kill her!"

__

_15 minutes later_

__

Sky walked into the computer lab, threw her coat over the chair, and sat down. Michael watched her along with Robin and Karasuma, but didn't comment on her antics. She seemed quite agitated.

"I wonder what Amon did to upset her?" Michael asked quietly to Robin, as he watched the hunter set up the camera on her laptop computer, and start typing. They had a chance to ask when a couple of seconds later, Amon came into the room. He nodded towards the three, then turned to watch Sky typing furiously on her laptop computer.

"What has her miffed?" asked Doujima as she came out of the elevator and saw Sky.

"There was an accident on her team," Amon replied, though not removing his eyes from Sky's work. The three others turned to him, and started asking questions when the modem rang on the computer Sky was working on. They all turned to watch as Sky tapped her fingers impatiently; waiting for the signal to go threw. A couple moments later, a young lady's face appeared on the screen.

She had beautiful silver hair that came down to her shoulders, and her silver eyes seemed to show relief as she took in who was on the other side of the camera.

"Mercy Sky. It sure Took you long enough to get back."

"Traffic. Anything new?"

"Besides Jenny hiding from Jeremiah and the team? No, nothing new."

"Good, because I need to talk to her. And get Cobra and Wren as well." The hunter on the screen saluted smartly, and left with a 'Yes Ma'am'." Sky shrunk the video screen, and went back to typing on the computer screen.

"Ma'am?" stated Michael in a soft voice. "I thought she was a lower class hunter just here to check things out. Not anything I know of deserving the title of ma'am."

"It could just be a sign of respect," added Karasuma with her voice also pitched low.

"I overheard some of the conversation," Amon added to their surprise. "The one she is talking to now said that she wouldn't normally bother Sky with such a thing. Meaning that she usually doesn't handle this."

"And lower level hunters in a team are used to that," stated Doujima. "Which means she isn't such a low-level hunter after all." They all turned slightly to look at Sky, whose back was to them, and wasn't paying any attention.

A little bell chimed from her computer, and Sky immediately enlarged the video screen. In the window now was a girl with raven-black hair and emerald eyes looking quite sheepish.

"I guess you heard."

"How could I not have Jenny. Good night! Bill Gates? Couldn't you have shot anyone else Besides him? And getting into a match with a coven leader? Why don't you just run around wearing a sign that says 'Please Shoot Me'?"

The raven-haired girl looked even more sheepish, and started playing with her hands.

"Well, I had a hunch and..."

"And it turned out to be wrong. Gods Jenny, didn't you learn anything? The team isn't there just to save your butt whenever you get into jams you can't get out of. They are also your brain-pool for plans such as the stupid one you just launched. If you'd run it by them, One; they probably would have given you enough facts to prove that you were wrong, and Two; if you had been proven right, given you a good solid strategic plan that would probably have left your back protected."

Sky glared at the young lady on the screen, and Jenny shrunk farther into the chair.

"I'm sorry Sky."

"You're Gonna be when I get my hands on you. And you should be old enough not to get into fights. Now, however, I'm going to help you catch that stupid witch that started this whole mess."

Jenny looked up sharply at Sky with amazement written plainly on her face.

"Oh, close your mouth Jenny. I'm pretty sure I know which one it is and how you were tricked. So since I'm not there to beat the snot out of him, it's going to be up to you, Cobra, and Wren to put my plan into motion. You have all that?"

Jenny could only nod numbly.

"Good. Now I know you have a key to my apartment. You know the little bookshelf right next to the front door? Yes? Okay, I need you to get a book off the shelf called '50 Crock-pot recipes'." At Jenny's skeptical look, Sky glared harder.

"You should know by now Jennifer Mills, that you can Never judge a book by its cover. Let's just say the recipes in it are not slow simmering." Jenny nodded at her, wincing at the glare, and looked up expectantly.

"Is that all?"

"That's all, except that I want you back in fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen?" Shock widened her eyes. "But it takes ten just to get to your apartment!"

"Better run fast then." Jenny suddenly disappeared from the screen, and a woman with silvery-black hair and ice-blue eyes, and a younger girl with golden-brown hair appeared.

"So, you have something for us Sky?" asked the older one. Sky nodded.

"Cobra, I need you to do some prep work for me. This is going to sound odd, but I know there's a witch that can influence people's minds, and I'm pretty sure Jenny fell into the trap. Do you have a pen and paper?" The older woman shuffled around a bit, and then turned back to the screen.

"Alright. I'm ready."

"I want you first to dress in normal civies..." She broke off her sentence to look the woman up and down. "...which means you're probably going to have to raid my closet." The older woman looked indignant.

"Now Sky. The last time..."

"The last time you went out in what you considered 'normal' civies, they were so flashy people were showing up in your area thinking there was a disco dance."

Cobra bit her lip, and narrowed her eyes at her, but didn't continue her sentence.

"Now, I need you to find Dora Rayen and find out where a person named Noel is. After you find him, gather information from him via tape recorder."

"Why?"

"Because he talks so fast and packs so much information into a coded message that one, if you try to decipher it there, your head would explode, and two; what's the point in asking you to decipher something you don't know the code to?"

"Good point." Cobra scribbled something more down on the page.

"Now, after you're done collecting the information and paying him off; which by the way is in a book on the front shelf called 'Business Management', right next to 'Explosive Fashions', I need you to do me a favor." Cobra cocked her eyebrow at Sky, but waited.

"I need you to watch him for me. He has a serious gambling problem, and he usually gets himself into trouble near the casinos, which normally gets him shot. I really don't want to drag his hide out of the hospital again. If you have to, tie him in the back of the trunk and leave him nude in an alley. That usually keeps him busy for a couple of hours."

Cobra's eyes widened in shock and disbelief, and she gaped at Sky.

"Nude in an alley?"

"Don't worry, I've done it before. He's an absolute gentleman, and spends all of his time trying to find something to war. The police are now used to the game and every time they find him, they throw him a blanket, a jacket, or anything else they have on them. The know to look for him when something is going down. I think Bill Gates getting shot will most definatly classify as something going down."

"Why don't the police pick him up for questioning when something big is going down. They know you're after him, why aren't they?" she asked questioningly.

"Because he's only a small-timer. Besides, when it's something freaky; what the police are calling supernatural, they know that he provides information to get me to the source and fix the problem."

"So the police know what you do?" she asked incredulously. Sky laughed and shook her head.

"Oh heavens no. They just know I handle what they can't. They ignore me, and I don't exist. Therefore, they don't bother me. That's how we play in the same court, but with different games."

Cobra nodded numbly, then disappeared off the screen. The golden-brown haired girl then appeared before her.

"I hope you're not going to make me tie up naked men like Cobra," she said with a wink.

Sky smirked at her.

"No. I need you to cover clothing and shopping. It's going to be an odd list for you as well."

The girl held up her pen and paper.

"I'm ready for you Sky."

"Okay Wren. I need you to go to the Salvation Army, off Main Street. Ask for someone named Joe, and tell him you need the regulars for Sky. It will cost you $10. Don't let him hassle you to pay $15. He's good at that. Then I need you to go shopping. Be prepared for having eggs for breakfast, because your list will certainly ensure you guys are going to have them."

The girl paused from her writing for a moment to cock an eyebrow at Sky, but then continued writing.

"Okay. The list?"

"Eggs. Two dozen, and I need you to keep the shells intact. Hollow them out, I also need you to get Yogurt, three plastic thermoses, cord, gun powder, gas; the regular unleaded works, black and white shoe polish..." She paused for a moment and smirked, then continued.

"...along with gummy worms and root beer."

"I'll put the last two down as personal items?" Wren asked without breaking her writing. Sky had to smile at her, and nodded. "Oh good. I'll get you a supply then."

"Thanks Wren."

"Is that all?"

"Yes. I'll fill you in on what to do with it when the other two come back from their missions. Okay?"

"Affirmative. ETA?"

Sky glanced down at her watch.

"30 minutes?"

"I'll see you then. Wren out." The screen then blanked, and Sky leaned back in her chair and sighed; crossing her arms behind her head. That's when the chair was twirled around, and she came face to face with Amon and the STN-J members, and Amon didn't look very friendly.

"Alright," he growled menacingly; leaning closer to her. "I think it's time you told us who you really are Sky."


	7. Explanations

**Chapter 6  
Explanations**

_

* * *

_

_Oh Damn._

Those were her first thoughts as Amon swung the chair around and she now faced the night hunter.

_Oh Damn! How did I forget that they were in the room?_ she thought as she noticed that the others were giving her a most curious expression. It was unlike her to forget of the others in the same area as her, and the role that she was pretending to portray as she let the team get comfortable around her. Now, it appeared that all her careful work was shot to hell because of one stupid mistake by a rookie.

_I'm going to kill her when I get my hands on her._ Now she had to explain her true position (or at least one that sounded true) to the members of the STN-J, and she needed to enlist Jeremiahs help in getting her butt out of the fire.

Calming her expression and eyes, she looked Amon squarely in the eyes.

"As you might have guessed, I am not exactly what you thought of me as. I let you draw your own conclusions to my position when I arrived, so that you would not feel threatened by a higher member of the team coming instead of a lackey. I intended it to stay that way until Jeremiah came and explained my true position, but it appears that everything's been blown out of the water by the stupid mistake of on of our older rookies. A mistake that I, sadly, must rectify, for she does not have the skills to get herself out. Therefore, I must forfeit my current standing with your team in order to save the butt of mine."

Amon did not move, but raised an eyebrow at the hunter below him.

"And what is your position?"

"That, unfortunately, is something that I still must have Jeremiah explain to you all. It is forbidden for me to reveal it without his assent, and since I don't have him on the phone, I cannot get it. The team should be gathering in the next twenty minutes, including Jeremiah. If you will wait until then, I am sure that he will most certainly explain to you the details of my position. Before that though, I am sorry."

Karasuma walked over around behind Sky, and placed her hands upon the chair and closed her eyes. She quickly felt the emotions of Sky from the conversation earlier on the computer, and the ones she had been feeling when she spoke to Amon. Robin and Michael watched on from by the computers.

When Karasuma opened her eyes, she nodded at Amon.

"I think she is telling the truth." Before he let Sky up though, he narrowed his eyes at her.

"I will let you up, but if you try anything..." He placed a hand on his gun holster, and Sky nodded.

"I know. You'll take care of me before I can do anything to harm anyone of your team members. I know already. It's not the first time I've been threatened by STN members." Sky then turned the chair away from him, and went typing back on her laptop as if the exchange had not taken place. The room was deathly silent.

"Who is this Jenny person?" asked Robin after exchanging a look with Michael. Sky gave a small smile as she turned slightly to see Robin, then sighed and shook her head.

"She's a rookie on the team who thinks she should be a full member by now. However, she keeps doing so many stupid things like our current problem, that Jeremiah is afraid to make her into a full member. I usually am the one cleaning up after her messes since I am her keeper."

"Keeper?" asked Karasuma. She sat at the edge of the desk Sky had set her laptop up on. Sky nodded.

"Since our team is usually doing high-level operations, when we are assigned a rookie, we give them what we call a 'keeper'. A keeper is a team member who is responsible for looking out for that rookie whenever they are on practice hunts or helping us with real assignments. It's to make sure they don't get killed before we can actually start using them in the team." As she spoke, she started typing. "We currently have three rookies on the team; Jenny, Rall, and Dragon. Dragon is the newest who we were given about a month ago. She's progressing rather well, and at this rate, will be a full member before Jenny."

"So even the fresh rookies you bring on assignments?" asked Michael, who decided he wanted to know a bit more about this team since he couldn't hack into their files.

"No. Actually we usually only send a few team members out, and the others will stay back and train the rookies while we are away. Either that, or we can stash them in with another team that is in that area so that we don't have to worry about them getting themselves killed. This assignment though, we will have to bring them with us since there is no place to stash them, and because it is an extended period of time, and we need all of our resources in one place. Not to mention the fact that Jenny needs to get put back in her place. I can't do that too well from a distance, even if I do already frighten the girl. Sometimes I think her skull is thicker then Jeremiahs." She sighed and shook her head.

"So we're going to have three rookies as well?" asked Michael. "But I thought there were only seven members of your team?"

Sky mentally ticked on names on her fingers, and then shook her head.

"There are currently eleven, if you count Sage, Derrick, and the three rookies. Most of the time only three or four will go out on assignments. Because of the situation of Japan though and the uprising of the witches, we're going to need everyone; including the thick-skulled Jenny."

Michael was about to say something when the sound of a chime came from the laptop. Sky turned to face it, and nodded.

"Speak of the devil and who shall appear."

On the screen, the brown-haired girl was visible, and in the background the raven-haired Jenny was bent in half and panting.

"Well, she appears to have made it," commented Sky, arching an eyebrow at the rookie.

"At about the cost of a near heart attack, but yes, she made it. And I have a lovely list of groceries. Now what do I do with them?"

"First, I'm sending Jenny for another jog. I want her to find Jeremiah and bring him into the room. Her current predicament has compromised my position her in Japan."

Jenny gave Sky a worried expression, and Sky shook her head.

"You've got to think before you do something stupid like this Jenny. Now I'm in trouble as well, and I can't get out of it as easily as I'm going to be getting you out of yours. Just go get him. And Silverwing too if she's anywhere near." Jenny nodded, and sprinted from the room.

"First Wren, I need you to carefully crack the top of the egg, and take off the cap. I need the shells intact."

"Alas. Thus now I understand while we'll be having eggs for breakfast." Sky cracked a grin at her.

"Yes. After you're done with that, open the book Jenny brought and turn to pages... 17 and ... 45. I think those are the ones I'm looking for."

With a puzzled expression, Wren grabbed the book and opened it. When she finally started reading the pages, her jaw dropped and she favored sky with a wide-eyed surprised expression.

"What'd you do Sky; raid a military Library for this?"

Sky chuckled.

"Didn't I say that it wasn't slow simmering?"

"Hell, I could blow up Manhattan with page 48!"

"Ahh. You're looking in the roast section. Yep, you probably could. Personally, I haven't tried it and I don't want to have to." Wren favored her with another drop-jawed surprised look.

"How well do you know this book Sky?"

"I try to read it at least once a day to brush up on my information. I figured I didn't need it on this one, so I left it behind. I'm glad I did now. You all need it more than I do."

Wren continued to flip through the pages, and her eyes kept getting wider.

"Just whatever you do, stay away from the tenderizing section. That's about page 150 through 210. I think you'll like the herbs though, page 240 through 275. If there's anything you look at in that book, at least look there."

"Apparently Wren has found the wonders of you cook book," commented a voice from the side of the screen. A tall man with dark-brown hair, green eyes, dark tanned skin, and wearing a black trench came into the view of the camera. Sky shrugged.

"She was bound to see it eventually. Might as well be now instead of later."

"Apparently added a few entries," replied a feminine voice. A lady about the height of the man walked behind Wren and leaned over her shoulder to examine the book. Her silver hair was in a braid that went down to her waist, and was accented by her black shirt. "Apparently added a few more entries since the last time I saw it. The book seems to have gotten a bit thicker."

"Just one or two sections," Sky replied as she looked out the corner of her eye at Amon. "Listen guys, I'm in a bit of a jam on my own here."

"I've heard," replied the man, facing the screen straight on. "Jenny had the sense to explain it as we were heading over here. So your current persona has been blown?"

"Sky-high with no hope of retrieval."

"Well, it had to happen at some point. Just sooner than expected. Who is it I'm going to have to explain you to?"

"Me," growled Amon as he came into view of the camera.

"I see. Alright then, Sky, you get on your cell-phone and help Wren out with the supplies. I want to make sure we have this mess cleaned up well before we head over there."

"Sir." She turned in the chair and went for her laptop case, grabbing her cell-phone and heading for a quieter corner so she wasn't interrupted. The man turned to Wren.

"I want you to figure out what Sky is planning and try to follow it as best you can. Jenny will be assisting, so try not to get each other blown up, understood?"

"Understood," she replied and left the chair for him to sit in. However, he wasn't quite ready.

"Silverwing, contact Cobra and see how she is coming along. I want her back here ASAP." The silver-haired woman nodded, then headed back off the camera. It was then that the man sat down.

"So you are Amon, one of the oldest members of the team and practically the leader correct?"

"Yes."

"Good. My name is Jeremiah. I am the leader of STN-14. I hear you have some questions concerning the agent that was sent over to investigate the situation."

"We do. I was led to believe she was just here to ascertain information on the current situation, and then the team was to be sent over if it was indeed as bad as it was thought to be."

"And that is exactly what she has been doing. Though she isn't as low-level as you seem to think she is, she was decided to be the best member to send over. Therefore, after her first meeting with you, she surmised the best way to carry out her original objective, without making your team feel any more threatened then they currently were by her presence. She was under orders not to reveal her true status until such a time I deemed for her to tell, or when the team arrived. However, since the former has happened, it would be in the best interest for you to know what she truly has been doing."

"Besides scouting out areas of potential ambush points and watching the team go in and out on hunts?" commented Karasuma, who had most of the time been sitting just out of the camera view. Now she moved into it so that she could be seen.

"Ahh. So apparently she has already been doing a bit of open investigating. Actually, when she says points of potential ambush, it is either one; a place where a witch might be able to ambush a hunter, or two; a place where she might be able to ambush a witch."

"Ambush a witch?" asked Robin, who was also off to the side.

"Yes. I would have to explain more when we get there, for there are some things I do not trust detailing on open communications, even if it is being monitored by our security. Just know that Sky is setting it up so that the team can arrive and help efficiently and effectively, so that we spend no more time than we have to in another teams area. That is all she is doing over there at the moment, and all she was told to do. No more and no less."

"So we shall have to wait until your arrival for more information," Karasuma said thoughtfully.

"Yes. As soon as this situation with Jenny is resolved, we will be coming over. I will leave the dates with Sky, and the arrangements as well."

There was a sudden rumbling noise from the other side of the camera, and Jeremiah twirled in his seat to face the direction of the lab where Jenny and Wren were working.


End file.
